She could send this and I could still lose my job.
“What you did was wrong.”
She described helping with a wedding she’d understood to be nonromantic. She said she had no direct knowledge that I’d expected an inheritance.
She kept her concerns about the marriage.
When she showed me the screen, I read it twice.
It wasn’t an endorsement. I thanked her, and she sent it.
I read it twice.
Then she added a correction to her public post.
Her thumb hovered before she published it.
I left the keepsakes with her.
At the door, she was already opening the box again.
***
The review ended a few weeks later.
I left the keepsakes
Nora’s statement was considered alongside my account and the other evidence.
They found no evidence of calculated financial exploitation.
They also found that I’d exercised poor professional judgment.
I could return, but I’d have a formal reprimand on my record, mandatory boundary training, and supervised clinical work.
I’d exercised poor professional judgment.
I read the conditions at my parents’ table.
Dad asked if I was going to accept them.
“Yes.”
Mom squeezed my shoulder.
The refusal paperwork was complete, too. No inheritance money for me. Alicia may have gifted it with the best of intentions, but I couldn’t keep it.
I read the conditions
I still owed the loans, and I would be working some Saturdays at the shop until I caught up.
***
On my first morning back, I waited outside the ward while Dr. Patel confirmed the arrangements.
A payment reminder appeared on my phone.
I put it away and took out my new badge.
My hand shook as I held it to the reader.
I still owed the loans
It beeped.
The door clicked open.
“No more weddings, Lucas.” Patel frowned at me.
I nodded.
